I saw that scene this morning. I was bringing my kids to JO Wilson and didn’t want to stop and be looky loo. What happened? K Street is a wide straight away but traffic and the school zone should slow people down.

Until DDOT becomes serious about redesigning streets to make drivers actually feel unsafe unless they go the speed limit (25 mph here), these crashes will continue. Unfortunately, as is the case with Maryland and Florida Avenues NE, only high profile crashes involving people walking on crosswalks will pressure DDOT to change a street. But even in those cases, change has not yet occurred despite nearly a decade of planning.
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In this case, simply permitting 24/7 parking on both sides of K Street NE would have prevented the car from jumping the curb and driving over the sidewalk. The cost would be slower commuter speeds, the benefits would be a more walkable street and preservation of life. Best practices abound from cities around the world to make Vision Zero a reality, but to date the city and DDOT have only displayed Zero Vision.

Rather than redesigning every street, it would be more effective and less costly for the DC police simply to enforce traffic laws. They don’t, so people drive like maniacs, and things like this happen.
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And for this case, let me be the first to guess….Maryland driver?

When it comes to driving, deterrence is far more effective than enforcement. The police can only pull over so many drivers, and every cop engaged in traffic stops is one not working on other problems the city faces. But there are lots of ways to calm traffic and discourage drivers from exceeding the speed limit — medians, traffic signals, etc. The cost and inconvenience is greater up front, but ultimately much more effective than trying to issue tickets to speeders during peak commute times.

Ironically these traffic calming measures in residential areas also push cyclists–who we should want to have on our secondary streets rather than the larger arterials–away from those routes. In my part of Petworth a lot of streets are one way in one direction for a few blocks, then two ways, and then switch to one way in the other direction. I live 8 blocks from one of my best friends–on the same street, but I can’t bike there or back directly without going against traffic at least once. Likewise I sometimes take Georgia Ave rather than 4th street in LeDroit because all of the traffic calming measures (speed bumps, 4 way stops, changes in pavement texture at every crosswalk) make it tremendously unpleasant and inefficient to bike through.

GS, I’d love to see police enforcement of traffic laws too… but seeing as MPD has apparently decided that’s not a priority, it makes sense to change the built environment to help slow cars down.
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Also, even if MPD were willing to do much traffic enforcement, cops can’t be at all problem locations 24 hours a day. Medians, etc. are present 24/7.

Can someone explain this? The photo looks like the driver crossed the sidewalk into someones garden? isn’t that incredibly dangerous, and something that couldn’t in a million years be due to road design? (i.e. it’s just insane, crazy, reckless driving?). Or am I missing something